There is a well known Facebook story where the pickle defeats the rock band. I won’t go into it here but it does bring up several questions about social media and human beings.

Let’s take Twitter for example. I have in past blogs written about the social”ness” of Twitter and the desire for people to become part of a group of like minded individuals. I often like to think of Twitter as a social party where several groups of friends are gathered discussing different topics. If you jump into a group you can join in the discussion. What if you were in one of these circles anxious to join in only to realize everyone but you was a recording on a machine? You try to interact but all they do is spout out the same gibberish all day long.

In my opinion this is becoming somewhat of an issue on Twitter. There are so many automated systems out there it is very difficult sometimes to recognize who is real and who is a piece of software.

I had a conversation with a Twitter user the other day who was upset that he had been tweeting to his followers all day about raising money for disabled vets (a fantastic cause) but no one responded. He did some research only to find out the vast majority of his 600 or so followers sent every tweet out via 3rd party automated application! Of course he received no response from them, they weren’t there.

There are some automated Tweeters that have hundreds of thousands of followers and never interact at all. These fully automated systems are essentially the pickle. These people / companies are participating in a global social party where building relationships is key yet they send a pickle in place of a human. One more step, the “man behind the pickle” obviously doesn’t care about his followers or their opinions. The MBTP believes himself to be a font of information that thousands will flock to. The MBTP likes to lecture not listen.

Please don’t misunderstand my thoughts and feelings for automation. I believe automation is a very useful tool if used in moderation. I and many like me spend a great deal of time relationship building on social media sites like Twitter. When I mention someone in a tweet I guess I expect that some human being will be reading it and responding. Where I come from that’s just the polite thing to do.

So in answer to my own question; Yes Mark, the pickle not only can get more followers than you but it does everyday. I wonder what that says about: the pickle? it’s followers? me? the world in general?